Tech News 2Night 131 (Transcript)

[Top TN2 Animation ] Tonight! What Microsoft's massive layoffs mean for Anroid, Xbox and the employees, plus how New York could halt the Comcast- Time Warner merger Tech News 2Night is Next! [TWiT Open] [Main TN2 Open] This is Tech News 2Night Episode #131, for Thursday July 17, 2014 This episode of Tech News 2Night is brought to you by NatureBox. Order great-tasting, healthy snacks delivered right to your door. Forget the vending machine, and get in shape with healthy, delicious treats like Coconut Date Energy Bites! To get 50% off your first box go to naturebox.com/twit. That’s naturebox.com/twit. I'm Father Robert Ballecer, today's top story, the massive layoffs coming to Microsoft. "- Do we yet have a picture of what departments will most be affected by the layoffs? - Most of the focus has been on the number of layoffs, but that's not the whole story -- Along with the pink slips, Microsoft has annouced some serious restructuring of its products and services. What do you see as the most significant of those moves? - By shuttering the Nokia Android development team, Microsoft seems to have settled the question of whether or not it was abandoning Windows Phone. Is this Microsoft doubling-down on their mobile platform and compltetly closing the door on Android, or just the elimination of a lackluster product? - Accordign to Mary Jo Foley: MS is shuttering XBox Entertainment Studios, which was tasked with creating content from Microsoft's XBOX francises. Is this a half-measure to appease street analysts who wanted Microsoft to spin-off XBOX and focus on their core competencies?" Coming up, the Facebook app only the famous can use... [AD] but first.. "I’m going to say something that’s going to surprise you -- You should be snacking more! Yes, you need to be snacking more! Why? I’ve discovered Nature Box. Nature Box snacks have ZERO trans fats, ZERO high fructose corn syrup -- and NOTHING artificial. Nature Box sends great tasting snacks right to your door with free shipping anywhere in the U.S. Here’s how it works: Click on the “Continue” button to choose between 3 subscription options. Then place your order. Once you’re a member, you can select which snacks you’d like in your monthly box. You can select by dietary needs: Vegan, Soy Free, Gluten Conscious, Lactose Free, Nut Free and Non GMO. You can also select by taste: Savory, Sweet or Spicy. The next time you get cranky and hungry and are ready to eat anything, remember Nature Box. Snack guilt free with Coconut Date Energy Bites, Santa Fe Corn Stix, Pear Praline Crunch and over 100 more healthy choices! [[Offer/ Call to Action]] To get 50% off your first box go to naturebox.com/twit. Stay full! Stay strong! Go to naturebox.com/twit. And we thank Nature Box for their support of Tech News 2Night" [Segment #2] And now straight to the tech feed.. Last week, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Riley publicly stated that the evidence he has seen seem to indicate that the public doesn’t care about Net Neutrality… Well he MAY want to take a look at his evidence again… As of this morning the FCC has received over 1 million comments on FCC Proceeding 14-28, the proposed rules on net neutrality. This total includes submissions through the website, which crashed under the load earlier this week, and by email. To put this in perspective, the FCC received about 1.4 million comments after Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction caused a national outcry in Super Bowl 38, forcing both the broadcasting industry and the FCC to change their operating procedures. No one has gone through ALL the comments, yet the general assumption is that the vast majority are pro-net neutrality submissions. Since the FCC extended the deadline, you have until midnight tomorrow if you so desire to leave your comment with the FCC. / And while we’re on the subject of the internet: The Comcast/Time Warner merger could be in the hands of the state of New York. -- In May, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state’s PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION would "use its new regulatory power to conduct a thorough and detailed investigation" into the merger. This means that Comcast has the burden of proving to the PSC that the merger is in the consumer’s best interests. If the PSC decides that the merger is a bad deal for New Yorkers, they could refuse to transfer the Time Warner franchises to Comcast -- cutting the company off from 2.6 customers. Investors in the merger could then kill the deal. It’s just one state, but if New York nixes the deal, other states could come to the same conclusion. / Aereo is NOT a cable company, -- so says the US Copyright Office, according to a letter obtained by CNBC. The company stopped operating after the Supreme Court ruled against the television streaming service in June. Aereo was hoping to rebroadcast TV programs once licensed as a cable company. In the letter, the Copyright office says the “internet retransmissions of broadcast television fall outside the scope of the Section 111 license.” No word yet on Aereo’s next step. / Oculus VR is working on motion controllers -- gadgets that let you handle virtual objects and control virtual vehicles... perhaps... These products haven’t been announced and the information is based on anonymous sources. In fact, despite all the press, Oculus still hasn’t shipped their VR headset. The product is likely to ship next year, hopefully. In creating its own controllers, Oculus -- which Facebook bought for $2 billion in March-- will be competing directly against several companies that have bought into their platform and supported them with controllers of their own, according to a report on CNET. Oculus has reportedly worked on a variety of tracking techniques. They’ve tried magnetic fields, infrared lights and cameras to detect the location and movement of Oculus users. But no matter what Oculus does, a virtual reality platform will need some form of elegant control, as well as an accurate way to track users in meatspace. It could all come together next year. The long awaited dream of consumer VR is virtually here... maybe. / Google released its second-quarter financial results today and exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. The company earned revenues of $15.96 billion -- a 22 percent increase over the same quarter last year. However, the profit picture wasn’t quite as rosy -- Google reported $3.42 billion in net income, which is higher than the previous year, but not by much. Google will account for more than one-third of the world’s digital ad spending -- vastly more than the number-two competitor, Facebook, which will own about 8 percent. Google also revealed that its investment in infrastructure keeps rising. The company spent a whopping $2.67 billion on data centers during the second quarter — double last year’s second quarter and triple what it spent two years ago. The company also announced a major executive change. Google chief business officer Nikesh Arora will leave Google to work for SoftBank. Omid Kordestani, who has long served as an advisor to the Google founders, will replace him. [Kicker!] and finally If you’re famous and special then you too can use the new iPhone app called, "Mentions" ... from Facebook. The app lets “verified public figures” post public content. The idea is to encourage more movie stars, musicians, and the like to create posts, photos and videos that the rest of us -- mere commoners -- can feed on. There is also a Mentions tab that should make it easier for public figures to see what others are saying ABOUT them. Sounds like fun? [good bye] That's it for this edition of Tech News 2Night. Subscribe to this show at Twit.tv/tn2, and write us at tn2@twit.tv Don't miss our morning news program, Tech News Today, tomorrow and every weekday at 10am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern. I'm Jason Howell, thanks for watching.